Members of the Tubajon Farmers’ Association of Laguindingan town take to the streets to demand that Ayala Land. follow the Supreme Court’s decision of just compensation for the farmland the latter bought at P2,000 per hectare. (photo by cong b. corrales)
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By CONG B. CORRALES
Associate Editor

FARMERS from Laguindingan town built a makeshift camp at the capitol grounds yesterday to air their demand for genuine land reform.

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Dubbed as “Kampuhan,” members of Tubajon Farmers’ Association (Tufa) and Moog Farmers’ Association (Mofa) also marched around the city to demand just compensation from Ayala Land.

Efren Jaramillo, Tufa chairman, said it has been more than five years since the Supreme Court ruled in their favor, directing Ayala to pay the agreed compensation to their members whose lands were used to build the Laguindingan Airport.

Jaramillo also narrated that in 1961, Ayala sought to usurp the lands in the area for commercial purposes by paying the farmers a measly P2,000 per hectare of land. He claimed that the farmers were forced to sell their lands due to the intense harassment perpetrated by hired armed men.

The farmers were granted relief from land grabbing when in 1985-87, the 602 hectares usurped by the firm was included in the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program. However, the farmers were not able to get Certificates of Land Ownership Awards from the Department of Agrarian Reform.

In 1995, Jaramillo narrated that their agricultural lands in Laguindingan were subjected to land conversion. The farmers were promised Disturbance Compensation, Relocation, Livelihood, and School Opportunities for their children when their agricultural lands were converted to an industrial area in 1995.

“In 2007, the farmers were removed from their lands and houses and structures in the area were demolished. The aggrieved farmers filed a case against Ayala Land. The Supreme Court finally ruled in favor of the farmers in 2013. However, representatives from Ayala Land reportedly paid some of the farmers P25,000 to P35,000 instead of the agreed compensation,” Jaramillo said.

Meanwhile, farmers from Mofa are worried that they would soon be uprooted from their lands with Ayala Land’s plan to expand their commercial ventures in Laguindingan. They demand a guarantee of their right to land as land reform program beneficiaries.

As of this year, the Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board-10, through Director Faisar Mambuay, formed a task force to see to the validation of the farmers who are yet to receive compensation after a dialogue with the farmers of Laguindingan.

The members of Tufa and Mofa are also set to join the Peasant March tomorrow in commemoration of the National Peasant Month.

Spearheaded by the national peasant alliance, Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas – Northern Mindanao, the gathering of over 3,000 delegates in the region is a continuing concerted effort of the farmer sector for genuine land reform and genuine and lasting peace in the country in sync with the national commemoration of KMP across the country.

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Before joining the Gold Star Daily, Cong worked as the deputy director of the multimedia desk of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), and before that he served as a writing fellow of Vera Files. Under the pen name "Cong," Leonardo Vicente B. Corrales has worked as a journalist since 2008.Corrales has published news, in-depth, investigative and feature articles on agrarian reform, peace and dialogue initiatives, climate justice, and socio-economics in local and international news organizations, which which includes among others: Philippine Daily Inquirer, Business World, MindaNews, Interaksyon.com, Agence France-Presse, Xinhua News Wires, Thomson-Reuters News Wires, UCANews.com, and Pecojon-PH.He is currently the Editor in Chief of this paper.